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Using DiSC Work of Leaders to Improve Leadership Skills

Leaders should never stop learning. They should always be focused on becoming even better at what they do, so they can motivate their staff better, help them become more productive and generally take an organization to the next level. This is achieved in a variety of different ways. Training, both formally and informally, is very important, for instance. However, it is just as much about self-improvement and self-assessment, which is something leaders should do of their own volition. Let’s take a look at some of the essential things to know about self-improvement.

Understand Your Leadership Sills and Strategies To Improve Them

Everything DiSC Work of Leaders Profile approaches leadership as a one-to-many relationship, as opposed to the one-to-one relationship of management. It focuses on tangible steps directed at leading a group or organization toward desired outcomes.

Consistently thought-provoking, Work of Leaders stimulates fresh conversations and perspectives regardless of the leader’s knowledge or experience. It’s an opportunity for leaders at all levels of learning to reflect on how they approach each step of their work. In addition, Work of Leaders encourages reflection and discussion about the team and the organization. Work of Leaders helps leaders take action with personalized tips and strategies that give clear direction and are easy to apply. Context-specific feedback and developmental steps along with helpful case-in-point narratives show how progress can play out in real life.

Improve on Your Communication

Communication is key in all aspects of operations. If there is only one area that a leader has the time to improve on, they should make sure it is this one. Through excellent communication, all other aspects will improve as well.

“Having great leadership skills includes your being able to clearly and specifically communicate your vision, goals, skills, intentions, and expectations to others. This also includes your ability to listen to what other people are consciously or unconsciously communicating. To become a great communicator, continually strive to improve your verbal, nonverbal, and listening skills.”The Top 10 Ways To Improve Your Leadership Skills

A successful leader knows how to listen and how to word things in such a way that he is understood by those who he leads. He is able to diffuse conflict situations through communicating properly, and by understanding that these conflicts are often caused by poor communication. Being aware of things like tone and body language is also incredibly important. These are all things that can be learned and it is a never-ending learning journey.

Building on Trust

Another thing leaders should always work on is on how to get others to trust them. One major factor of importance within this is integrity.

If leaders have integrity, their staff will trust them to make the right decisions. They will believe that their manager is leading by example, and they will be more inclined to follow that example. If you have integrity as a leader, then staff will also believe that you make the right decisions, even if these are very difficult ones.

Identify Your Own Strengths and Weaknesses

Being a leader is also very much an inwards journey. Your role is to identify the strengths and weaknesses in your staff, and to help them improve their weaknesses and build on their strengths. However, as a leader, you are at the top, so there is no one to do the same for you. It is vital for your own self-improvement, therefore, that you are able to look inwards and critically review which areas of yourself need improvement, and which areas are your real strengths as well. This is where the Everything DiSC Work of Leaders Profile plays a major role.

Considering Soft Skills

Soft skills, or interpersonal skills, are still a very fuzzy area. Too many people still see soft skills as something feminine, something that men aren’t born with. It is important to step away from this, particularly when we consider the world of management is still a male-dominated world (although this is improving). If soft skills are denied out of hand for being too feminine, then important ways of improving yourself as a manager are being missed. Your soft skills are vital to how successful you will be as a leader.

“By investing in quarterly, comprehensive soft skills courses for each of your team managers, you’ll ensure that they lead by example when it comes to handling taxing escalations. Through observation, your agents will then learn how to resolve such crises for themselves, reducing the strain on your team leaders.”
Top Tips for Improving Team Managers’ Leadership Skills

Management and Leadership

Another thing to think about is that managers should lead, not manage. Every manager is a leader but not all leaders are managers. Managing means working one-on-one with others–telling them what to do. This is when people start to make jokes of managers being like mushrooms (keep them in the dark while feeding them manure), or being like seagulls (squawking a lot, swooping in and dropping all sorts of unpleasant things). Leadership, on the other hand, is about being supportive.

“Under leadership, we include creating and communicating a plan for achieving group goals; unwavering commitment towards those goals; dedication to the work and the people performing the work; and the ability to prioritize tasks and follow through on assignments of each team member.”The Practices of Successful Managers

Leadership is also about celebrating any success as a team effort. It is about never taking credit for anything yourself. You must understand that any achievement was made possible by everybody.

Getting Training Where Training Is Needed

Self-improvement is, for a large part, about learning on the job. It is about gaining a greater understanding about yourself and how you impact other people. In addition, it is also about recognizing where you may need further training and ensuring you receive that training.

You have to have good strategic thinking skills, and also organizational skills, risk leadership skills and action planning skills. One main thing that most leaders could do with additional training is a way to self-assess their current state as a leader.

This Everything DiSC Work of Leaders Training Kit is training that uses pre-work delivered online, engaging contemporary integrated videos, and online follow-up exercises to create a personalized training experience for leaders. Based on proven best practices, The Everything DiSC Work of Leaders Profile connects to the demands of the real world and generates powerful conversations that uncover a path for leadership action. These Kits come ready to implement in every environment. DiSC Work of Leaders Training Kits require no certification…just review, customize to your needs and use.

Everything DiSC Work of Leaders includes all of the tools and resources that prepare you to deliver Work of Leaders including podcasts that let you hear first-hand how to interpret Work of Leaders continua so you can answer participant questions. It’s insightful information you can’t find anywhere else. There are thirty-six individual clips that are broken down by Vision, Alignment, and Execution.

In our view, leaders have three fundamental responsibilities: They craft a vision, they build alignment, and they champion execution.

Crafting a Vision: imagining an improved future state that the group will make a reality through its work

Building Alignment: getting to the point where everyone in the group understands and is committed to the vision

Championing Execution: ensuring that the conditions are present for the imagined future to be turned into a reality

Of course, there’s a lot of skill that goes into each of these responsibilities. That is, in fact, what The Work of Leaders training is all about. The model is broken down into three key things effective leaders do at each step, and describes specific behaviors for each. The true value of this model is that it lays out a manageable, realistic framework to guide the process. The goal is to provide straightforward explanations of where you might choose to target your personal development efforts.

In Conclusion

Self-improvement is something that every leader should commit to. Leaders need to know that they are never finished with learning, not in the least because no organization is stagnant. As such, their skills cannot be stagnant either. Additionally, since new research and development are continuously delivered in the world of leadership, they must remain up to date with that as well. A lot of this is done through their own efforts, through reading and by learning on the job. Some of it, however, requires additional external training, or finding a good mentor.

“Along the way to achieving the vision the leader will come upon many problems. Effective problem solving is therefore another key leadership skill. With a positive attitude, problems can become opportunities and learning experiences, and a leader can gain much information from a problem addressed.” Leadership Skills

Co-owner/Co-founder of Intesi! Resources. Educated as an architect I transitioned to technology during my career in architecture. Intesi! Resources was founded in 2002 and my focus is everything Web/eCommerce related from the design and development of our site to all the marketing activities involved. I also provide significant support for our clients on all our products and how they are used to deliver assessment-driven learning solutions that develop self-awareness and interpersonal skills.

About Steve Giles

Co-owner/Co-founder of Intesi! Resources. Educated as an architect I transitioned to technology during my career in architecture. Intesi! Resources was founded in 2002 and my focus is everything Web/eCommerce related from the design and development of our site to all the marketing activities involved. I also provide significant support for our clients on all our products and how they are used to deliver assessment-driven learning solutions that develop self-awareness and interpersonal skills.